Freelance gym instructors take legal action against council’s £100 practise ‘tax’

Glasgow Life has told freelance instructors they must pay the annual charge if they want to continue taking classes – something one coach has suggested discriminates against self-employed instructors.

But lawyers said they are pursuing claims for around 40 instructors, with the action focusing on the employment status of the instructors within Glasgow Life and the question whether they are employees, self-employed or workers.

Glasgow Life has justified the charge as ensuring instructors have “appropriate insurance and qualifications and associated administrative costs”.

It also encompasses the use of the Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL) licence.

Marie Macdonald, an employment lawyer at Miller Samuel Hill Brown, said: “We are looking into this matter for a large number of coaches throughout Glasgow.

“Investigations are looking at the legal tests involved in determining their status.

“The £100 fee was the catalyst but we are now looking at matters more broadly.”